Watch the House Gavel in a Basically Phony “Aye” Vote for Medicare Money

Watch the House Gavel in a Basically Phony “Aye” Vote for Medicare Money

Sahil Kapur recaps what happened earlier in the House of Representatives today—the Medicare "doc fix," which would avert for one year the planned cuts to doctor payments, was passed by a voice vote. No one objected or demanded a roll call. Why did that matter? The answer is in this video of the small ordeal. Arkansas Rep. Steve Womack, presiding over the House, asked for the votes. The "no" votes clearly outmatched the "ayes." Womack gaveled in the "ayes" anyway, proclaiming that, sure, they had amounted to the two-thirds needed for passage. (UPDATE: A previous version of this post referred to the presiding member as John Duncan.)